Ame, thank you so much for your comments, beautiful gifs, pictures and videos of Halli and Pruuni. They are so great and interesting birds. And also for your identification of the bird song that can be heard close to the nest...with help and verification from Vainamoinen. It's so much to learn..

i finally realized that Mr and Mrs B have cheated me again! it's been Halli in the nest all the time that i've watched. i began to wonder when it became later and later and no change.... and the garland seemed to be missing from the head but not quite. they look so similar that sometimes (actually often) it is very difficult to identify them without both being there for comparison. in the cloudy weather Halli looks rather dark, too.fortunately we have Pontu pictures. there i found pictures which show that they have changed shifts already at 6.02. early birds today! this is Pruuni at 6.01:

i've re-read books about incubation times and i think i remembered the times wrong the last time or books disagree a bit... today i read in one book that incubation takes 30 days while i remembered reading 38 in another..?

A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of European Birds with North Africa and Middle East(pheuuw! a long title!) by Colin Harrison (Collins 1975, reprinted 1985 with revisions, .. , 1988) says about buzzards (a partial quote):

Eggs. 3-4, sometimes 1-6. Short subelliptical to short elliptical. Non-glossy. White, variably blotched with chestnut-red or brown and faint purplish or greyish-brown blotches-, sometimes with only few faint marking. 56.8 x 45.5 mm.

Incubation. Eggs laid at 2-3 day intervals. Incubation by both sexes, mainly, sometimes solely, by female. 33-35 days for a single egg. Up to 42 for a clutch.

Nestling. Altrical, and downy. First down grey to buffish of brownish-grey above, white below, with a dark patch around the eye. Second down thicker and coarser, buffish-grey to dark greyish-brown. Irides grey. Cere and legs pale yellow.

Nestling period. Young vary in size and the smallest may die. The female broods and tends young closely for 8-12 days; the male bringing food. After this both parents hunt, but only the female actually feeds the young. The second down of the young grows at c. 7 days; they feather at 12-30 days, feed themselves after c. 30 days-, and fly at 40-45 days.

so our single egg was laid on Apr 28th. that plus 33 days would be May 30th, or plus 35 days would be June 1st. those are the earliest and latest expected due dates. approximately... give or take a few...

it's funny how the pattern of lighter feathers in Pruuni's head changes a little bit from one day to the next. this is how it looks today.

it's a bit like the charcoal face of a snowman (i've never tried Paint's brushed before so this is a bit clumsy...) i don't think this pattern will work as a warning pattern in the animal kingdom as a proper eye-pattern of e.g. butterflies does. on the right is a European Peacock (Aglais io) for comparison.......

it seems that he carries the prey in his claws and immediately drops it on the nest in front of Pruuni and does not try to "serve" it in any other way to her. (maybe it just wise to give up the prey to the hngry female at once.)

i think you're right macdoum, it was Halli in the nest. i was away in the evening, but now i looked up in the Pontu pictures when the change has been. at 20.43 Halli was still in the nest, lying flat. he was lying like that already at about 5 pm when i left and there were sounds of raindrops already then. http://pontu.eenet.ee/saunja/2012-05-16 ... -20-43.jpg

i'm making daily time lapse videos of the Pontu pictures starting from April 1st. in these videos each Pontu picture is shown for ½ second so that the whole day is condensed in a video lasting for about 7 - 8 minutes. daylight time is getting longer all the time so that these videos get longer with time accordingly. some pictures may be missing but i don't think anyone can notice that.

the videos of April you will find in this playlist:http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9B99CC1F838B2E24ps: on April 6th first one elk wanders from the lower right to the left and later two elks wander from left to right. Mr and Mrs B start to visit the nest on Apr 9th and i haven't looked through the pictures from that on yet. who knows what'll be there.

and a very wet morning it seems to be! there's one soaking wet bird in the nest. i think it's Pruuni. it's not raining now though i hear drops falling. i think they fall from tree branches. Pruuni is preening a little or actually i think she's combing water out of her feathers. birds are singing beautifully. there's mist among the trees which have fresh green and golden leaves. it must smell wonderful there.

just a while ago at 6.59 a hooded crow and a jay shrieked both at the same time near the nest and startled Pruuni. or maybe there were two crows..? anyway: a worrying voice for Pruuni.

thank you Fleur! you seem to be doing the same at Latvian ospreys' nest.

Halli has called near the nest on two occasions, first at 9.29 and later at 9.40. on the first time Pruuni didn't even move but on last time Pruuni lifted her head a little. maybe Halli was encouraging her..? it's been raining "well" after Pruuni's flight out and back. -hopefully on the second time Halli told Pruuni: "i'm going to get you some breakfast."

edit: at 9.47 a couple of geese flew right over the nest. then there were some more Halli's calls at 9.48. i also keep hearing a jay shrieking or buzzing near to the nest. one has been around all morning...geese here:

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